On 24 January 2012, Coleman and his assistant Jimmy Bell were appointed by Rochdale to replace Steve Eyre, who had left the club the previous month.[3] Their contracts were terminated by Rochdale on 21 January 2013 following a poor run in form.[4] In October 2013, Coleman declared his interest in replacing Dave Hockaday as manager of Forest Green Rovers,[5] but returned to Southport as manager on 7 December 2013, with Jimmy Bell once again as his assistant.
On 18 September 2014, Coleman was confirmed as manager of Accrington Stanley for his second spell with the club.[7] In the 2015–16 season, Coleman led Accrington to a 4th place finish, missing out on automatic promotion on the final game of the season by goal difference.[8] In the play-offs, Accrington lost to AFC Wimbledon after extra time in the semi-finals.[8] In the 2017–18 season, the club won the League Two title to reach the third tier of English football for the first time in the club's history.[9][10] His achievement earned him the EFL Manager of the Season award for 2017–18.[11]
They were relegated to League Two at the end of the 2022–23 season.[12] On 3 March 2024, Coleman was sacked by Accrington the day after a 4–0 defeat to Wrexham with the club in 16th position.[12] At the time of his departure, he was the longest-serving manager purely in the EFL having been in charge for 9 years and 6 months.[12] Across his two spells with the club, Coleman was in charge for 1,098 matches.[12]